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The biochemical relationships in anaerobic digestion after thermal hydrolysis at D avyhulme
Author(s) -
Jolly Martin,
Belshaw Dave,
Telfer Jack
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
water and environment journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1747-6593
pISSN - 1747-6585
DOI - 10.1111/wej.12093
Subject(s) - alkalinity , anaerobic digestion , hydrolysis , methane , digestion (alchemy) , pulp and paper industry , chemistry , biomass (ecology) , activated sludge , waste management , sewage treatment , chromatography , environmental engineering , agronomy , environmental science , biochemistry , biology , organic chemistry , engineering
The commissioning of the largest thermal hydrolysis plant in the world at D avyhulme, Manchester involved detailed analysis of the digestion process. The plant consists of eight digesters, 20 thermal hydrolysis reactors and a maximum throughput of 121 000 tDS/year. The plant was converted from conventional digestion with a loading rate of 1.25 kgVS/m 3 /day to digestion fed with thermally hydrolysed sludge with a loading rate of 4.16 kgVS/m 3 /day. At the start of the commissioning and ramp‐up of the loading rate, control actions were based on acid/alkalinity, pH and foaming; however, it was found that the methane concentration was the parameter that changed quickest during digester instability. The monitoring was changed during commissioning to use methane concentration as the primary control parameter. It was found that the rate of increased organic loading is dependent on the availability of seed biomass already acclimatised to thermally hydrolysed feed sludge and the presence of a high alkalinity buffer.